Dead Silence
by Erics Mistress
Summary: It's been fourteen years of dead silence from the supernatural world, Sookie has a normal life now, as normal a telepath can get. But she should have known that even if she were done with the supes, they weren't done with her.


a/n and disclaimer, all characters belong to Charlaine Harris. If anything seems to not be hers then possibly its mine. Any similarities to anything other than Ms. Harris' work is unintentional except where it isn't. Basically, please don't sue me. All reviews both negative and positive are welcome as well as critiques and criticisms, unless they are mean-spirited in which case I do not welcome you. In other words, feel free to comment and I'll feel free to ignore (or not) your comments. :D

**Dead Silence**

Chapter One - A Telepath walks into a bar…

Its been fourteen years since I last spoke with a vampire. Sure, I've seen plenty of them over the years, who hasn't since the great revelation. They are doing much better at mainstreaming now, or they hide their slip-ups better. Who knows for sure, and I for one wasn't interested enough to find out. I no longer am involved with the weird and crazy behind-the-scene supernatural goings on. After surviving bombings, beatings, were-pack politics, vampire take-over's and the fairie war, I took myself away from it all and got what I'd always wanted. A normal life with a normal husband and child, although the child was not my own nor completely normal.

He was from my husbands first marriage to Hadley, who happened to have been my cousin, before she became a vampire and before her final death. But Hunter is my step-son, and I love him as fiercely as I would have had my own. Early in my marriage I learned I was unable to conceive children. I was devastated at the time, but I have dealt with the it. And we had each other and Hunter, who needed me desperately then. Who else could help him deal with being a telepath, but another telepath?

I lived a happy, uneventful life for almost thirteen years. Then Remy had a heart attack right at the breakfast table one morning and my normal life changed. Not as dramatically as you might think. Remy had very good life insurance, so financially I was more stable then ever, not Rockefeller rich but not stressing over the bills either. And of course, I still had Hunter to take care of. He was seventeen and preparing to go to college. I had helped him build up his mental shield enough over the years that he was able to concentrate in school the way I couldn't. He did so well he won a scholarship to Tulane. And before anyone thinks he might have cheated because he's a telepath, let me set you straight. He did not. I'd know if he did.

This past year was a blur of college forms, getting him ready to go, dealing with insurance companies, and just plain daily living that I coped with Remy's passing much better than I thought I would. This past week, I sent my son off to college. I had empty nest syndrome coming on strong, but I couldn't deny him this opportunity and honestly, I was stronger than that.

I was still young at forty-one. Well at least I appeared young. I don't know if it was just a fluke of genetics or the amount of vampire blood I had ingested in my twenties, but I barely looked thirty. I was often given looks by the other mothers at Hunter's high school. They all thought I must have been knocked up at eleven and poor Remy was given the nastiest looks, since he looked older then his forty-five. Jason, my brother has aged well also, but differently. Where I still look young, Jason matured into a distinguished looking gentleman. Surprisingly, He resembles my Great-grandfather Naill, who I'm sure wouldn't be pleased. But since the land of fairies is closed off and we aren't likely to see him again, I don't think it'll be a problem.

So, my life had been progressing in a normal human way. With ups and downs, deaths and births, I have two nieces courtesy of my brothers second wife Jane. I had almost begun to believe that the vampires of my younger days had forgotten me and my peculiarities. I had stopped looking over my shoulder when I went out at night. I actually went out at night. I was a fool to believe that dead silence from them meant the had forgotten me.

* * *

"Sook, isn't this so much fun? Its great to be out without the kids tagging along." Tara said to me as we slid into our booth at Merlotte's. I had been coerced into going out tonight by Tara's nagging . With the exception of my bi-monthly dinner at Jason's house, and the occasional visit to Fintan and Claude's, I didn't go out much. I hadn't kept in touch with many of my former acquaintances. However, Tara, my oldest friend I did.

"I guess so. I'm going to miss Hunter terribly though. Didn't you feel bad after the girls left for college?" I asked, looking around the bar, and wondering why Tara had chosen to come here of all places. Going down memory lane I supposed.

" Well, yeah, but also a little like I had regained a bit of my own life back. Don't get me wrong, I love the twins and JB, but, you know…its draining sometimes. Don't you feel a little bit of the same?" Tara replied to my question. I felt her worries that she wasn't a good mother for feeling like that and quickly replied "Sure, there were times I felt that way."

But I hadn't really, I was and am so grateful to have had a family of my own. I might have put up with anything for that, I was lucky that Remy was such a good man. Our waitress came by to take our order. She was wearing a newer version of my old uniform. So much had stayed the same here. There were some new faces, mostly human, but a few Weres I didn't know and didn't plan on getting to know. But not much else had changed since it had been rebuilt fifteen years ago, after the bombing. It had been so long since I'd last been there I expected…I'm not sure what exactly but some difference.

I'm sorry to say I hadn't kept up with Sam as well as I should have. Besides a card at Christmas and the occasional phone call, I hadn't really seen him in years. But as I saw him striding out from the back I realized that he hadn't changed either. A little greyer maybe, some added lines around his eyes, but same build, same walk, same clothes practically. It was a bit like this was the bar that time forgot.

"Sookie! Tara! Why didn't you call me to say you were coming by?" And with a bit of polite bit of "how de do", a round of drinks on the house, and a quick stop behind the bar by Sam, we all three settled down to chat.

It was fun, surprisingly. I mean, I tried hard not to think to long on my past. So much of it was painful, but tonight the conversation was on mostly pre-vampire times with only a few mentions of them. I think it was mostly Sam keeping it in the more distant past. Since he knew all that had happened during my twenties. But as I said, it was a fun and lovely night, just like old times, and a few other customers stopped by to say howdy. People I hadn't seen in years, and when the vampire walked in, I half expected it to be Bill.

It wasn't Bill. It wasn't anyone I had known. He was short of stature, with a dingy brown hair color, dressed in the local uniform of jeans and a tee shirt. Not a very impressive vampire. But looks could be deceiving. Not a ripple went through the bar at his entrance, no notice was taken except by me and possibly Sam. I didn't know if it was because he was known around here or that still to this day, many humans cannot tell a vampire from themselves. I didn't want to know or stick around to find out.

" Well, its been great seeing you all again, but I've got to go now, getting tired, not used to being up so late anymore." I said, trying to make my excuses as politely as possible. Sam gave me a look, I think he knew I was running. And I was, as quick as a rabbit at the dog races. Tara tried to cajole me into staying a bit longer. But I was adamant. And just when I was making my escape, the waitress bumped in to me and I put my hands out to stop my fall into the table next to me. With a sharp stab of pain the tines of the fork lying on the table punctured the meaty part of my hand. Not deeply, just deep enough to cause four beads of blood to rise up. My scent was in the air. Oh, most everyone there couldn't smell it, but the Weres could and the vampire. I left as quickly as I could after that. Pleading with Sam silently not to make a fuss over the wound. I would heal quick enough, it wasn't life threatening that way. It could threaten my life other ways if I didn't leave, even with only 1/8 of faire blood in me, it was enough to draw attention to me. Attention I did not want.

a/n: so there it is, the boring first chapter to lay out the rest of the story, the foundation of my magnum opus so to speak, well not really, but there it is anyway. Next up, ERIC and PAM and BILL (sorta), OH MY!


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